The different initials and names for Whitehead in the 1926 yearbook are very confusing. Plus, it says Wallace Irvin Whitehead aka Wallie was born in Farnum Que July 27, 1904. J Gordon Whitehead was born in Scotland 11/25/1895. The plot thickens.

Page 246 of the Bell Book mentions Wallace.

Dear Joe Notaro;

You have done a great job of following through with the leads to the yearbooks and the photos that we put on the John Cox site. When we researched them a while back, we found no records there of him being a boxer, no stories written by him for the college.

We also found he may not have been a part of the rowing team as has often been reported, but that was another person named Whitehead.

Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz

Besides page 246 of the Don Bell book, The Man Who Killed Houdini, see chapter 13 (A Brother Found) for some more information on a possible connection between Wally and Gordon. In the chapter (starts on page 89) on Gordon’s Brother, Bell does not give the first name of Gordon’s brother to protect the family. Bell makes reference to a younger brother Gordon on page 90, but on page 91 we find out that Gordon was really the older brother by 8 years, which coincides with Gordon and Wally’s birthdates. In fact Gordon was the oldest of the family and his brother was the youngest.
W.I. Whitehead was listed for the ARTS’27 class and as a member of the McGill Rowing club in the 1926 Old McGill Yearbook; and J.G. Whitehead was listed for the ARTS ’28 class in the 1926 Old McGill Yearbook. So it looks like they went to school together,but Gordon never graduated.

And who is hhoudini 'nice' (like rice)??

Sorry about that. I updated my profile and signature. If you go to my website, you can find out more about me.

Thank you.

Because of the yearbooks from McGill that we discovered, we have found according to McGill records, found so far, Whitehead was not listed as an athlete or boxer there as often claimed in the past. We also know the "fact" that he was member of the rowing team and its manager is also not born out. It was a different Whitehead. He might have been Whitehad's younger brother as conjectured by Joe Notaro known on The Magic Café as hhoudinice.

We do not find records of Whitehead being a divinity student as also claimed. It may have been Smiley who said that.

It was also uncovered that Houdin DID brace himself before the punches, possibly poorly, and it was not an unexpected surprise attack as claimed by Bernard Ernst.

We learn Whitehead tried to move the conversation to religion, and was deflected by Houdini. Then he and he alone tried to move the conversation to Houdini's stomach muscles which Houdini minimized and then Houdini tried to change the subject several times. We believe that was because Houdini was already feeling pain in that area for a while. Whitehead insisted!

These new findings are changing what was thought for decades about the incident or incidents that led to Houdini's death.

We've discovered the last interview with Don Bell writer of the definitive book on Whitehead, "The Man Who Killed Houdini."

LIKELY HIS LAST INTERVIEW. He died March 6, 2003 about 4 months after this interview

http://www.vpr.net/episode/30926/halloween-houdini/

Entitled, "Halloween with Houdini" 11/07/02 12:00AM By Joe Citro (Host) Commentator Short excerpts, .......

a couple months before Hallowe'en this year, I happened into a tiny bookshop in Sutton, Quebec. There I struck up a conversation with its owner, Don Bell. We had a lot in common. When talk turned to writing, magic, and magicians, he described the book he'd just written about "The Man Who Killed Houdini."...

He decided to track down the Montrealer who dealt Houdini's fatal blow. And he came away with a book full of surprises...

Mr. Bell has done major detective work, and I don't want to give away his punchlines. I'll just say there's evidence Mr. Whitehead's act was no college prank. He was connected to organized Spiritualists -- and for years Houdini had been waging war against them, exposing frauds and ruining reputations...

.. many other astonishing twists in Mr. Bell's true-life detective story. But it's his story, not mine-and he should tell it.

Joe Citro-Apr 20, 2003-Vermont Public Radio 365 Troy Ave Colchester VT 05446 (802)655-9451 © Vermont Public Radio

Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz

In answer to a couple of comments by Ian ...


One of the "players" was Lady Marler, very close friend of the 22 year Spiritualist Prime Minister Mackenzie King. She was also a close friend of Gordon Whitehead. She was possibly romantically involved with Whitehead, and met with him on many occasions. This could be an important connection!


1. His being a shoplifter speaks to his character and trustworthiness.
2. The book was about the occult so it shows Whitehead had interest in a subject matter that Houdini was vehemently attacking when Whitehead punched him. The other book on prize fighting makes one wonder if Whitehead was in fact as rumored, a prize fighter.


1) Does her being elderly minimize what she thought or said?
2) Marie Blood would have been as close to Bess Houdini as anyone could have been after Houdini's death and would have likely known what Bess Houdini's thoughts on the matter of the punches by Whitehead would have been, aside from the legal issues of collecting the insurance money.

True none of these by themselves are conclusive, but when all the different facts, discrepancies in the telling of what happened, and issues are put together it can lead one to question Whitehead's motives, as it has in the minds of several experts mentioned above.

Dick Brookz & Dorothy Dietrich
The Houdini Museum


PS. 5 days and counting for hopefully an important Houdini announcement.

Mr Brookz, this is the most convoluted tale I have even seen. I cringe when I see there is another addition to it. I could write a book on how poorly this has been set out as an argument or case. if you publish you could call it watch tower.

Thanks, but I only wanted to answer your questions and clear up some of your concerns.

Perhaps, I should not have bothered, but I did it out of respect.

Regardz,
Dick Brookz